By Raelee Kelley
Arts Editor
The review-based website for college students, RateMyProfessors, appears to have considerable impact on students’ decisions on what professors and courses they take.
Through the website, students can rate professors in a general number rating of one through five, or they can rate the professors and their courses based on the level of difficulty. Around 19 categories appear, such as “tough grader,” “lots of homework,” “lecture heavy,” or so many papers.” Students can select three of the 19 choices and share comments and opinions of the professor and his or her teaching style.
Since its founding in 1999, RateMyProfessors.com has been a popular tool for both students and professors, including those from HWC. As of Feb. 2017, 660 Professors have been rated on this website. The most rated professor at HWC has a total of 105 ratings.
“I often look up ratings of potential professors, and if they have well rounded and mostly positive ratings, I will make an appointment to meet with them to evaluate if they are a good match for me,” said Tyler Williams, a business and economics student at HWC.
The website is easy to use as it allows students to not only read reviews but create them, too, according to Williams. “Students who make use of the reviews should also take the time to rate their professors, this is a fair way to pass the torch,” he said.
Tyler added that some of his professors have requested that their students take the time to write reviews, too.
Another HWC student, Jessica Gutierrez, recently found use of the website.
“I only recently became aware of this site, and I wish that I would have known about it earlier; however, I will be making use of Ratemyprofessors.com, in all of my future academic endeavors,” she said.
Other students made use of the website to find professors that fit her learning style.
“I only recently learned about rate my professors and realized that I would have had a better experience last year had Iknown about the website,” said a HWC student. “ I enjoy interacting in class, and I had a few courses where the professor was lecture heavy, yet had I viewed Ratemyprofessors.com I would have made different decisions.
Some professors, like HWC English professor Amelia Lopez, find the site helpful as the evaluations can better assess their teaching techniques.
“I have also found that when reading reviews, you [the reader] must thoroughly read each review to watch for consistency. For Professors with positive reviews, the excellent feedback can also serve as a motivational tool for those professors,” said Lopez.
rkelleyhwc@gmail.com
